wvgazette.com reports: Ross Wallingford had done a lot of big-game hunting, but he’d never really considered a musk ox hunt.
Until his wife suggested one, that is.
“A lot of the adventures we’ve gone on are things Karol wanted to do,” Ross said. “And we’ve always had a great time doing them.”
From a polar bear photo safari in Manitoba to two plains-game hunting safaris in Africa, Ross and Karol have shared wildlife-related experiences in all four hemispheres. “Whatever it’s been, we’ve always had a great time,” Ross said.
Their latest journey began when Karol watched some television shows that featured musk oxen. “I thought they were interesting creatures,” she said. “They’re amazing because they live in really harsh conditions and they get really big despite eating really poor forage.”
Karol wanted a musk ox for the trophy room in the couple’s Fairview home.
“I told Ross, ‘I want a musk ox, and I’m going with you,'” she said. “I decided that if we were going to have one, I first wanted to see it in its natural environment. Ross asked me which season I would prefer, spring or fall. I told him I wanted to go when it was all snowy and windy and uncomfortable.”
On April 21, the Wallingfords lifted off for Ulukhaktok, a hamlet located on Victoria Island in Canada’s Northwest Territories, 289 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Karol got her cold-weather wish. In April, the average high temperature in Ulukhaktok is 9 degrees Fahrenheit; the average low is minus-7.
“Everything was covered with snow and ice,” Karol said. “The only dark spots in the landscape were rocks and musk oxen.”
Telling rocks and musk oxen apart is an acquired skill, especially at the distances required to avoid spooking the oxen. On the hunt’s first morning, for example, the Wallingfords’ Inuit guide spotted three of the animals heading over a ridge more than a mile and a half away.
“The guides had warned us that musk oxen were really wary and easily spooked,” Ross said. “Not only do they have sharp eyesight, they have great hearing – and they’ve learned that when they hear a snowmobile, it’s generally bad news for them. It’s hard to get close to them.”
After the oxen disappeared over the hill, the guide gunned the engine of his snowmobile and circled far around the hill to the where the oxen would most likely reappear.
“We were riding behind the snowmobile in a crude wooden sled called an alliak. It had no suspension, and we felt every last bump along the way. I wouldn’t recommend musk ox hunting for anyone who has a bad back,” Ross said.
Not long after the guide got the Wallingfords into position, the trio of oxen came shambling down the hill toward them.
“The guide pointed out the best bull, and I took a shot from about 250 yards,” Ross said. “Nothing happened. The guide said, ‘You missed.’ I said, ‘No way.’ Turns out I had hit him, but lower than I wanted. I took another shot and he went down.”
The bull weighed 700 pounds, with deep-drooping horns.
“The hunt didn’t end there, though,” Ross said. “I had two tags, so we decided to continue hunting, both for sightseeing and to see if a better bull might come along.”